The Handbook “LIBERALISATION OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES THROUGH MUTUAL
RECOGNITION IN ASEAN: SURVEYING SERVICES” is one of four Handbooks published
by the ASEAN Secretariat to provide guidance on the liberalisation of professional services
in ASEAN. Three other Handbooks in this series deal respectively with the engineering,
architecture and accountancy professions.

The Handbook is an important tool to disseminate information and create greater understanding
of the liberalisation of the trade in surveying services within ASEAN.

Through the Handbook, ASEAN surveying professionals will be able to obtain information on
how to qualify and practice as a surveyor, either as an employee, through collaborations or
through the setting-up of commercial presence, in all ASEAN Member States (AMS).

The ability of surveyors to move beyond national borders within ASEAN will assist ASEAN to
accelerate the objective of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Under the AEC,
the ability of surveyors to provide services beyond national borders is facilitated by the ASEAN
Framework Agreement on Trade in Services (AFAS) 19951 and the Framework Arrangement
for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying Qualifications (2007). The MRA is one of the important
tools to increase the level of liberalisation of cross-border trade in surveying services in ASEAN.